Hot Topics: News, Blues and How to Defuse
Fairfax County Public Library, Va.
Innovation Synopsis
Hot Topics: News, Blues and How to Defuse is a series of five workshops teaching media literacy and respectful dialogue skills. Each session covers a media literacy topic (web searches, evaluating sources, fact checking, social media feeds and international news) followed by a dialogue skill (effective listening, collaborative communication, effective speaking, dealing with emotions and cross-cultural communication).
Challenge/Opportunity
The claim of “fake news” is prevalent, yet many people lack the skills to identify bias and evaluate the accuracy of news sources, both traditional and non-traditional. Once information is judged to be accurate, calmly discussing political and other hot-button topics remains challenging. Subject area experts teach participants skills to evaluate sources and discuss challenging topics respectfully with the ultimate goal of developing an informed citizenry that engages in respectful dialogue.
Key Elements of Innovation
The series is a partnership between librarians in the Fairfax County Public Library and experts at the George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR). Each organization’s subject area experts teach a set of skills and provide participants with hands-on practice of the skills.
Achieved Outcomes
While each of the five workshops stands alone, participants can attend all five sessions without repetition. The series was repeated after its initial run to enable participants to attend sessions that they missed.